That Summer-Chapter 6
[Hey you guys!! I'm sorry if I was too long between the updates on the last 2 chapters, I've had a busy summer so far. Well, here's the next chapter! Hope you like it! (crosses fingers LOL)]
Rachel laid in the back of her family's speed boat on Friday morning. She had decided when she woke up that morning that she would bring it out before that night's hustle and bustle of weekenders.
Rachel had come up last night. She could still hear echoes of her mom and dad's lectures and few arguments about her making the drive by herself. She had never come up on her own before, she had just gotten her license last winter. But she wanted to spend some time up here alone, and feel like she had all of Elm Point Road to herself. She loved Friday mornings up here. Everything was so still and undisturbed, unlike the weekend, which was not so far away. This weekend, however, would be a lot busier than most because it was 4th of July.
Propping herself up on her elbows, Rachel looked out at Rock Lake and the surrounding community of Lake Mills. Everything was so peaceful and serene at this moment, and the lake seemed like smooth glass. There were no boats out at this time, only a few fishermen hoping for the first big catch of the day. Rach breathed a half-sigh and laid back down stomach-first in the warm sun. She had just gotten a new bikini, and was trying to adjust her tan lines from the usual tankinis.
All the sudden, she felt a splash of water hitting her back. She propped herself back up again and looked around, eager to find out where the splash had come from. She settled her eyes on a red and purple jet ski, doing 360's in back of the Greens' Crestliner. 'He is awfully close to our boat!' thought Rachel, rolling her eyes. He was probably a single guy, showing off to get her attention, like so many others before. She decided to say something.
"Hey! Those were some pretty cool tricks." She said, hoping to break the ice. She hadn't seen this guy before, he obviously was from the other side of the lake. "Thanks." He replied, maneuvering his wave runner so it was right up alongside the boat. "What's your name, I haven't seen you around before." "Rachel Green, I'm from Elm Point over there." She gestured to the southwest side of the lake. "I'm a weekender. What's your name?" 'He seems like a pretty cool guy so far' thought Rach, and she smiled a little. "I'm Chandler Bing" he said enthusiastically, "and I'm from over there. Right behind Sandy Beach." He pointed over to the public beach where Rachel and Monica liked to hang out. "Sandy Beach? My friend and I love to go over there to swim and play beach volleyball and stuff." Rach smiled more. She was really liking this Chandler guy so far. She'd have to tell Mon about him tonight.
"So, want to come in?" Rachel asked Chandler, who was still idling on his watercraft. He looked at her questioningly. "Don't worry about the jet ski, I can tie it to the boat." She offered, hoping that would make him stay. She wanted to talk to this guy and get to know him. "Alright, I'll come in, thanks." He said as Rachel got a rope, tied the jet ski up, and Chandler turned off the ignition and climbed in the boat.
He stumbled up to the front of the boat, making Rachel giggle a little at his clumsiness. She followed to the front and sat down next to him. "So Chan, do you live up here?" Rachel asked her new friend, breaking the ice once more. "Yeah, I do." He said, looking around at the lake. "It's nice up here, isn't it?" "Yeah, it is. I'd love to live in a peaceful place like this, on a lake. It's one of my favorite places in the world, this town." "Yeah, Lake Mills is great." Chandler sunk down into the seat, almost laying down. Rachel did the same, laying down on the opposite side of the boat, but touching their heads in the middle.
"Where do you live Rachel?" He asked, turning a little to face her. She followed suit, turning to face him. "I live in Illinois. Do you know where Elgin is?" She asked. "Yeah. That where you're from?" "Yeah." For the first time, she noticed just how blue his eyes were, and how cute he was. She'd definitely have to tell Monica about Chandler, maybe the two would hit it off.
"My friend that I was telling you about, she lives in Rockford. She'll be up here tonight, you two will have to meet." Rachel decided right then; she'd have to play matchmaker for Chandler and Monica. She thought they would be cute together. "So your friend, Rach, what's her name?" Chandler asked her, obviously a little interested. "Her name's Monica." Rachel told him, and could see the curiosity start to grow in him. "Monica, huh? Cute name, I like it." Rachel laughed. He was definitely interested.
A little while later, Rachel sat in her house, thinking about the previous conversation with Chandler. She had thoroughly enjoyed him, and could tell the two of them would be great friends. He had given her his address, telling her to come over tomorrow, and to bring Monica. She could tell he was really interested in her, and considered that the two might be a couple before the weekend was over.
Then, still thinking about couples, her thoughts shifted to Ross and Carol. Ever since she had learned from Mon about Ross's new girlfriend, Rachel's feelings for him had done nothing but grow. She had spent a little time with Carol here and there, and still could not, for the life of her, figure out just what it was he saw in that girl. Carol was nice, but Rachel just didn't like her because she stole Ross.
He had been bringing her up to the Lake quite a bit for the last 2 months, so Rachel never really had spent any time down at the Geller's that summer. It was too painful to her to see them together.
One time, she had gone down to the Geller's to see Mon, and instead she saw Ross and Carol on the couch kissing up a storm. It had been five minutes before Ross even noticed she was there, and only then he mumbled a soft "hey, Rach", then went back to kissing her. It had felt like someone had just stuck a knife in Rachel's chest. She had then walked out of the house without even seeing Mon, ran all the way home and into her room, and cried.
Before she had any more time to reminisce on the events of summer so far, however, a car pulled into the driveway, soon followed by Jill making a mad dash in the house and calling the downstairs bedroom again. "Hey Jill, what's up?" Rachel said nonchalantly. "Oh yeah, you're here, I forgot. And I suppose you have the downstairs bedroom." Jill sarcastically replied, rolling her eyes. "Yeah. And didn't you kind of realize that when I wasn't in the car?" Rachel rolled her eyes back at her sister. "Whatever, Rachel. I'll go upstairs." Jill started upstairs, then, turning back, she added "even though it creeps me out." Rachel laughed. "Uh-uh Jill, I'm not buying that load of crap, you're absolutely fine upstairs. Now go." Defeated, Jill walked upstairs to unpack her bag.
"Hey sweetie!" Mr. and Mrs. Green came trough the door and greeted Rachel at the same time. "Hey you guys, how was the trip up?" Rachel asked, getting hugs and cheek-kisses from each parent. "Fine, like always. How was your trip up here?" They asked. "Didn't get into any trouble, I hope?" "No, mom, dad, everything was fine. You know I would have called if there was." Rachel smiled reassuringly at both her parents. She liked how much her parents always worried about her, even though it could be a little annoying at times.
"Oh, and Rach, Mon called this afternoon, said they aren't coming up until tomorrow night." "Why? Did she say?" Rachel wondered. "Yeah, Judy wants them all to go to a family party tonight. I think it's her father's birthday." Rachel sat back down on the couch. "I'm sorry" Sandra offered. "It's ok, mom." Rachel said absentmindedly, wondering what she was going to do until Saturday night.
She would have to take Monica over to Chandler's on Sunday then.
Rachel just silently prayed that Carol wouldn't come up with them. She couldn't stand another weekend of seeing her and Ross together. They were starting to make her sick.
Well, more like she made Rachel sick. He just made her excited. 'Man, I can't wait for tomorrow night', Rachel silently thought when her parents were gone, a smile creeping onto her face. 'I can't wait to see Monica, tell her about Chandler, see what happens between them, light fireworks, it's going to be so great'. She knew tomorrow night would be the start of a weekend filled with excitement.
But what Rachel didn't know was that tomorrow night, her dreams would also come true, and she would live the fantasy she'd been having ever since Memorial Day weekend.
[So there's the next one! I kinda was starting a little writer's block to tell you the truth so I hope that didn't suck too bad. But hopefully it's gone now, and I'll try to get the next one up soon. So, read and review!! (Oh, and sorry it's so short, as always LOL. I'm trying to get them to be longer)]
As always, Erin Geller :)